Hands on Katie

Curtainbots in Disguise!!

I've been having such a laugh with these little devices this week!!

Hope you enjoy the madness!

Unleash the Fun: Remove Before Starting

Obviously I can't just take things out a box like a normal person without being silly...

I actually was messing around so long, I didn't have time to actually unbox it!

Nevermind, I'll find time tomorrow to peel off and give it a thorough testing!

Just hanging around......

Been sewing curtains....... can you guess why?

Every aspect of curtain design is an abomination of absent standards - 50 different types of rails, hooks, dimensions all over the place....!

This little dude is awesome!!

Been ripping up the house, sewing like a maniac and automating every curtain I can spot....!!!

Video coming soon!!

Decluttermageddon!!! Room tour as requested - starting with my craft room!!

But can you spot all the words from my challenge!!!??! I 'think' I got them all....

Drinkit Trinkets.....!

Now my mum loves both chemistry (being a retired Chemistry teacher) and....er.... drinking! She's loves her Prosecco, but often glasses get mixed up when people come over.

So I designed her these little trinkets to clip onto glasses to make sure they don't get confused!

I'm always amazed at how detailed the laser cutter can get with these sorts of things, sub millimetre etching of text and symbols that I designed.... and took literally two minutes to cut!

But, Chemistry is ...

Like watching paint dry!!

Well if I'm going to go bonkers (more bonkers) painting a hundred metres of utility board, I'll make you suffer too with my photos of the process!! A mix of chaos and dullness in the garden - painting masses and masses for my Neogrid take over!

Annoying that the supplier changed style halfway through, but given me an excuse to get out in the sunshine!!

I saved an ambitious slug, went mad with the amount I did (this was just the first batch!) and made a complete mess by st...

Some traditional tech....

Did a bit of upgrading of the sauna with some basic features - added a temperature and humidity gauge, a timer and a neat little heat powered water fountain.

I love these simple tech solutions - just fill it with water and it sprinkles water out - it's like magic!

Sewing/Craft Room almost done!

What happens when you let an engineer loose on a sewing room???

It's been a 3D print bonanza for this room - video coming next week, but couldn't resist giving you all a sneak peek behind the scenes!!!

See Gridfinity, NeoGrid and Multiboard in action with, of course, a few tech solutions!

I'm feeling mischievous - has anyone played the word game?? Add a weird, obscure or silly word in the comments below and I'll see how many of them I can weave into the final video.... go ...

Tag-teaming the lawn: Me and Mowie are at the cutting edge.

There's something just so cool about working with a robot...... but maybe that's just me....!

Regardless, we’re a well-oiled grass-kicking team! 🌳🛠️"

Ok, let's be plain here - it's only T-568B or bust...

...does anyone actually wire CAT 6 cables to the T-568A standard??!?

Wired up my PoE+ camera to monitor the new CNC in action.....!

Latest video live! Let's test an air quality sensor!

This is a fascinating little device!!

Behind the Scenes

I've recovered!! Thought I'd share a few of the projects running at the moment, although I didn't even get to cover the full list (my mega workshop build, redesign of the garage workshop, sewing projects, 3d print mania and more - so I'll need to cover those next time!)

Anyway, hope you don't mind my mad rambling - I can blame the recovery from illness on my delirium ..... at least this time..... :)

I just have to say it again.....

I'm loving this new CNC - it's so great, I'm barely scratching the surface of its full capability, but it's a game changer for me!

It's been carving away like mad - this was the plywood test that I did a couple of weeks ago, it's been working away on the hard wood now....

No tech, no wifi.... just sun and mud....

FINALLY some nicer weather, so got some clearing of the beds done - it's lovely to do this sort of thing... at least the first few times.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't musing ways to automate some of the more boring elements.

I've had half and eye on building an open source gardening robot for the garden (eg I like these designs: https://farm.bot/)

That'd tackle weeding, watering and planting pretty neatly I su...

Archive: Smart RFID Paintings

Could have sworn I'd posted these already, but some extra photos of the build process!

RFIDs are brilliant for so many things, but they're an awesome way of triggering 'scenes' in your home for lighting and music playlists.

Just tap your phone and music plays - you'll note each painting I made has a theme to it - this correlates to a style of music. So the english scene plays english music, the italian scene plays italian music and so on. Then tapping on hidden spots at the top, ...

Latest PC Case Video live!!

Heads up you crazy bunch, hope you enjoy the latest video - giving you first notice so you have the best chance to win the first youtube comment prize... 🤣🤣🤣

Archive Photos: Sewing Super Mario Dungarees!

My son wanted Super Mario dungarees, well that's what he's gonna have!

But I always get mocked for my yoga-like poses when I'm laying out fabric patterns! 🤣🤣🤣

I don't know any other way to do it and there's nothing worse than crinkling or disturbing the fabric after you've spent ages laying it all out!

Working on a quick video update on latest projects too - next day or two with a clear run!!

New video live..... I've been organising.... :)

500 of these later....

Oh I am so fed up with all the cruddy organising solutions out there! Ikea drawers all of different sizes, tupperware not fitting anything else.... it's nuts!

So I'm ending it once and for all - I'm creating the open source organising system - video inbound soon!

Patreons, you have the power!!!

Hi all,

I've attached a link to a super quick poll - it would be AMAZING if you could take two minutes to share your thoughts on what you like and what I should focus on next!!!

Use your powers wisely......

Katie

Sneak Peek: Chaos in the Workshop today!

Ripping the whole place apart to make room for the new CNC - with a quick 3d printed fix for a part broken in transit, the whole thing came together pretty quick!

I've built a rolling set of modular cabinets for it to sit on, but I'll get the CNC to print the drawers automatically - did a test cut @ 20cm x 20cm and it was accurate to 0.001mm - that'll do me.... ;)

If I can just get a moment without freezing rain, then I'll be smashing through the walnut glue ups for the custom P...

Being a maker...

Right lovely people - you get my Friday night rambles as I finished my smart controller and it's working awesomely.

Ultrasonic sensor hooked to an ESP chip that's connected to my home automation hub that controls the whole house!

In short I can use the distance sensor to adjust lighting levels, music levels, fan speed in my PC, height of my garage doors, level of my bath water, temperature of the room - it's basically endless, so I'm likely to be building a few of these around th...

Building the smart workshop control station! 🚀

Hello you fellow crazy bunch!

I'm giving you a sneak peek of something I've been working on for months – a paradigm-shift in how I create, make and craft: the Neo-Workshop.

What's This About?

I've designed and built a cutting-edge workshop, powered by a workstation where every device is smart-controlled. From laser cutters to table saws to 3D printers, everything is interconnected. Imagine automated sensors on every devic...

The biggest workshop rebuild in ten years!

Ok folks, some behind the scenes heads ups for all of you.

It all kicks off today, started work on a complete rebuild of my workshop - I'm going full bore at this, so building a dedicated space for my laser cutter, a new CNC table, a proper workstation (yes, this is going to be a fully integrated smart workshop!).

I'm also doing a video on how I'm introducing software engineer thinking to how I organise the entire house - yes, I'm building open-source storage..... and of course I'...

Lawnmower skinning timelapse video!

Hey all!  As a couple of you messaged about the process I took to create the decals for the Luba, I happened to have a pile of videos I'd take of me making it - so thought I might as well make a quick timelapse video of the process....!

Enjoy!

You can never have too many clamps...

...but what about infinite clamps??

Fed up with all the dodgy corner clamps out there, so I've been busy making my own - they've got all the best bits for holding all the regular sizes.

What's coolest is that they run at 60p per clamp, meaning you can just print off another set when you need extra clamps.

These are available on my site: https://handsonkatie.com/shop/

I intend to build an ultimate wo...

Patreon Member Update - Late night chinwag!

Hey you lovely people! Ok, it was late, I was tired, but I just had to drop you all a little note to say thank you and tell you a little bit about what's coming up!!

Hopefully you found it useful and apologies for any rambles! :)

Monitor Mess around

And I'll share the 4K landscape version of my silly short!  I was a little excited....in case you didn't notice....!

Size matters!

Ok, time for a bit of Sunday Silliness! But all this video editing really needs a big screen, so I treated myself. The question was asked whether I needed a monitor that was the size of me, so I proceeded to demonstrate it definitely isn't, I mean I can't fit in the box no matter what I tried!

This should make life MUCH easier!